title: A case-control study of robot-assisted type III radical hysterectomy with pelvic lymph node dissection compared with open radical hysterectomy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to compare robotically assisted hysterectomy (RAH) with open (ORH) type III radical hysterectomy in the treatment of early-stage cervical cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  The outcomes of 51 consecutive patients who underwent RAH were compared with the outcomes of 49 patients who underwent ORH.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no differences with regard to patient demographics. There were significant differences between the groups with regard to operative blood loss (P < .0001), operative time (P = .0002), and lymph node retrieval (P = .0003), all of which were in favor of the RAH cohort. All patients with RAH were discharged on postoperative day 1, compared with a 3.2-day average hospitalization for the cohort with ORH. The incidence of postoperative complications was 7.8% and 16.3% for the RAH and ORH cohorts, respectively (P = .35).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Robotic type III radical hysterectomy with pelvic node dissection is feasible and may be preferable over open radical hysterectomy in patients with early-stage cervical cancer. Further study will determine procedure generalizability and long-term oncologic outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gynecology Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UNC School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. jboggess@med.unc.edu
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Boggess
authors.forename: Paola A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Gehrig
authors.forename: Leigh
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cantrell
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shafer
authors.forename: Mildred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ridgway
authors.forename: Elizabeth N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Skinner
authors.forename: Wesley C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Fowler
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000601:surgery; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007044:Hysterectomy / Q000379:methods*; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D011247:Pregnancy; D012371:Robotics; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*